


What Happens Next

by lionofsounis



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, im trash for these 2 im so sorry, like a preposterous amount of fluff, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-28 22:16:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11427309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionofsounis/pseuds/lionofsounis
Summary: Cress had never woken up beside someone else before. So it was an odd experience to wake up and stretch, still groggy, only to find something warm and solid and breathing in your way.Not unpleasant, mind you. But odd.***What happens after that last Cresswell scene in Winter. Fluffy/cuddling Thorne and Cress.





	What Happens Next

**Author's Note:**

> LISTEN OK if yall are payin attn to me bc all i've done is write for miraculous ladybug then im sorry i've lied to you bc lunar chronicles is actually my ultimate jam and I literally have dozens of fics for it. unfortunately i can never seem to finish them, but this one somehow happened???? anyway.
> 
> this takes place at the end of Winter, right after that scene where Cress and Thorne talk after she gets out of the hospital and he helps her into bed and then curls up next to her and fam!!! that boi be soft as hELL

Cress had never woken up beside someone else before.

 

Sure, she'd shared a dormitory with the other shells when she'd lived in the lava tubes. And she'd woken up next to Thorne in the desert, but it wasn't like they were touching. Oh no, there had been at least a foot between them, no chance for accidental cuddling.

 

So it was an odd experience to wake up and stretch, still groggy, only to find something warm and solid and _breathing_ in your way.

 

Not unpleasant, mind you. But odd.

 

Odd enough that she pulled away in surprise and immediately regretted it. Not only did it tug painfully on her stitches, but it dislodged her from where she was tucked into Thorne’s shoulder, and more importantly, woke him as well.

 

He shifted and groaned a little, lifting his hand to rub his face and banging his nose with his cast. “Ow, what the--” He blinked and saw Cress for the first time, still looking at him in confusion.

 

Once he got over his own confusion, Thorne felt his heart plummet into his stomach. Aces and spades and stars, here he was trying to prove he was a good guy and capable of being a gentleman, and he immediately -- albeit unintentionally -- falls asleep next to a girl who had in no way given him permission to do so. He had resolved to take things slow, dammit.

 

“Cress! Aces, I'm sorry.” Her frown deepened, and his heart wrenched inside him. “I didn't mean -- we didn't -- nothing happened, I just -- should I go?”

 

She blinked at him. “What?”

 

He tried to gather himself. “I didn't mean to fall asleep with you. Er. To fall asleep here. I'm sorry. I can go.”

 

“Um. Okay?”

 

For the first time, it occurred to him that she didn't seem mad, despite the frown creasing her forehead. “Wait… do you not… want me to?”

 

“Oh, no, you can -- you should -- you know. If you want to. Go, I mean.”

 

“I _don't_ want to. Unless you want me to.”

 

“I don't,” Cress could have kicked herself for how fast the words came out of her mouth.

 

Thorne’s shoulders relaxed, but he still looked worried. “You're frowning.” It sounded like a question. “I thought maybe you didn't want --”

 

“No! No, I do. Definitely want, um…” She searched for the words, feeling a blush creep up her cheeks.

 

“Wait, so this is okay?”

 

“Okay? Yes. Yes, it’s… it’s okay, I promise. It's just. I've never… well, woken up beside another person before. It's…” She didn't want to say weird. “Different.”

 

“Oh.” Then Thorne frowned. _“Oh.”_ He considered this, thinking back to the desert, knowing full well he'd awoken every morning with plenty of space, even if Cress had only been an arm’s length away. He thought, too, of the one-bed hotel room they'd never had to deal with the awkwardness of using (he would have slept on the floor, of course, because he was a gentleman, _of course)._ And then he thought of the painfully empty satellite and years of nights spent completely alone, as a little kid, no less, and then as a growing teenager trying to figure out who she was. Even he had, as a kid, crawled into his parents bed and snuggled between them from time to time, when he was small and not yet aware of being a disappointment. Cress hadn't even had that. She'd been a disappointment from the day she was born, and for no good reason.

 

It was a good thing Sybil and Levana were already dead, he thought, or he might be inclined to do something reckless and violent.

 

“Well,” he said to Cress, pushing the depressing thoughts away. “It's really the best way to do it. Uh, I mean, not that I would know anything about --” _Waking up with other people._ Aces, he needed to think before he spoke. “Here, let me show you.”

 

He sat up and kicked his boots off. They'd fallen asleep as they were, on top of the covers, Cress still in her hospital gown, and Thorne still in his meeting clothes. He tugged the blankets out from under her gently, then tucked them around her.

 

“I don't really need you to tuck me in,” Cress pointed out. “I'm not a baby.”

 

“But you _are_ mortally injured.”

 

“They wouldn't have let me out of the clinic if it was _mortally_.”

 

“Aces, Cress, just let me have this.”

 

“Yes, Captain.” He could hear the smile in her voice.

 

“Now you stay completely still and don't mess up your stitches.” He crawled in beside her. “And I put my arm like this --” he slid it under her, wrapping around her shoulders and pulling her to him.

 

“And then you --” Cress melted into his chest, wondering if he could tell what a relief it was to do so.

 

Being held like he was holding her now… it was exactly what she’d always wanted. Before she even knew that she wanted _him_ to be the one holding her. Before she had even known what romantic love was. All she had wanted -- all she had ever wanted -- was to _be_ wanted. To be loved and valued for more than just what she could do for someone. For the first time in her life, she was completely useless -- for the moment, anyway; injured, broken, stuck in bed. For once, no one was relying on her or expecting her to do anything.

 

And he still wanted her.

 

The feeling of his arm, warm and solid around her, felt like things she’d never felt before, like love and safety and getting home after a long day. Cress thought it might be the first time in her life she felt truly restful, and her body could tell. She shuddered a little, leaning into him, like every bad thing that had happened to her and that she had been carrying with her was finally gone.

 

Thorne held her close, and though he didn’t seem to grasp the weight of what had just happened, she didn’t explain. “Yeah, exactly like that,” he said. “And then--” He shifted, tangling his legs with hers until the two of them were as close as they could be.

 

Cress rested a hand on his chest. “Then what?”

 

“Oh, you put your hand exactly like that. You're a natural at this, Cress.”

 

It was a nonsensical thing to compliment someone on, but Cress blushed all the same. “Well, I've watched a lot of net dramas.”

 

Thorne paused. “You mean you already know all this, and I'm explaining it for nothing?”

 

“I'm sure I don’t know _everything_.”

 

He raised an eyebrow.

 

“Well, what comes next?”

 

Thorne smiled slowly, taking in the late afternoon light slanting across her face, and the freckles that dusted her nose. He tried to memorize the sleepy gleam in her blue eyes, and the way that one lock of hair kept falling into them. He watched the way the corners of her mouth moved when she smiled back at him and got distracted by the soft, petal-pink of her lips.

 

But that was for later, he thought, his eyes traveling back to the stray lock of hair.

 

“Next,” he said, pressing his lips to her forehead, “I kiss you like this.” He kissed her cheek. “And like this.”  Her other cheek. “And like this.” He kissed the tip of her nose. She giggled.

 

“And maybe,” he peppered kisses across her face until she was laughing uncontrollably. “Maybe -- I decide -- I’m just -- going to kiss -- every -- single -- one -- of your freckles -- because -- they’re adorable.”

 

In her laughter, all she could manage as a reply was a breathless, “Captain!”

 

The sound of her happiness sent warmth right down to his toes. “And then you laugh exactly like that,” he said, “and it encourages me to continue kissing you.”

 

He kissed her on the lips then, long and slow and gentle. When they parted, it took Cress a moment to get her eyes open and her brain working again. “And then?” she asked, still breathless.

 

“I think then it's your turn to kiss me?”

 

She blushed, but he was grinning so hopefully that her doubts melted away.

 

“I can walk you through that too, if you want.”

 

“I think I can manage,” she said dryly, pulling on the lapels of his shirt. She could feel him smiling into the kiss, and this time when they parted, they were both laughing.

 

“Yeah, you don't need any coaching for that. Though I don't know how you learned _that_ from net dramas.”

 

“It must just be a natural talent.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Cress wondered where the confidence to say such a thing had come from.

 

Thorne must have seen the surprise on her face because he started to laugh again. “Careful, you're starting to sound like me.”

 

“Aces and spades.”

 

He laughed harder. “Don't worry, the confidence looks way better on you.”

 

Cress blushed again. “What happens next, Captain?”

 

He looked at her for a long moment, smiling contentedly. He reached up to tuck a stray curl behind her ear. “Next I wonder how I could possibly have been so lucky to find you.”

 

“You're always lucky.”

 

“Not this lucky.”

 

“Hmm. And then what?”

 

“Oh, it could be any number of things. I could kiss you again--” He did. “Or you could kiss me--” She did. “I could tell you how beautiful you are and you could tell me how handsome I am --” She snorted. “We could talk about nothing for a few hours, or we could just sit and look at each other. Or I could just look at you, because you look beautiful and because I'm really lucky that I get to look at you, because you're okay and --”

 

Cress blinked at the sudden turn in conversation. Thorne was smiling, but his eyes were sad.

 

“Oh,” Cress breathed. “Oh, Carswell.” She wasn’t sure where the first name usage had come from, but he didn’t bat an eye. Her hand moved to his cheek, and he turned his head, pressing a slow kiss to her palm.

 

Her hand curled round the back of his neck, fingers carding through the hair at the nape. As if trying to ruin a perfect moment, her traitorous mind flitted back to hiding in a corner, listening to shouts and gunshots, to a grunt and a _‘just kissing my girl’,_ followed by his being gone and her being alone with his gun and a smear of his blood on the floor.

 

Not to mention the part where _she’d_ shot him. “So are you.”

 

His eyes flew open. “What?”

 

“You're okay too.” It was almost a question.

 

“Yeah. Cress, yeah. Better than okay.”

 

“Can you… not get shot for me anymore?” _Or by me,_  she thought.

 

“I make no promises.”

 

“Captain.”

 

“Except to keep you safe. And for such purposes I will gladly get shot again.”

 

“No! Captain --” Cress burst out, then paused, pursing her lips. “How do I talk you out of that?”

 

“You don't. Or at least, you won't. You could certainly try.” He had the gall to smirk.

 

“You're impossible.” Cress found herself stifling a yawn. “So what's next?”

 

“Well, we did the heartfelt conversation about how I would die for you --” Cress’s eyes went wide and Thorne flushed, then cleared his throat hastily. “So I would say next, you take your meds which someone has apparently left here for you--” Cress glanced over her shoulder to the bedside table, “--and then you go back to sleep and get some rest because you're mortally injured.”

 

She rolled her eyes. Thorne missed it: he was too busy stretching over her to grab the paper cup and muttering “aces,” when he saw the amount of pills in it. He handed it to her, watched like a worrisome mother hen while she ingested them, and got her water before settling back down beside her.

 

Cress yawned again. The medication worked fast. Thorne brushed her hair out of her face.

 

“What are you going to do while I sleep?”

 

“Also sleep, probably. That is. If it’s okay. I can go back to --”

 

“No, it’s fine. It’s good, I mean. But you shouldn’t stay if you’re going to be bored. You could go see Cinder.”

 

“Honestly, Cress, I could do with a little boredom. And for that reason, I’m not going anywhere  _near_ Cinder.” He muttered something Cress didn’t quite catch, but she thought she heard the word ‘disaster’, which didn’t seem very complimentary to the new Lunar queen.

 

She closed her eyes. “What about after we wake up?”

 

“I don’t know what happens then,” he said, twirling one of her curls gently around his finger, “but I do know that someone who loves you more than anything is going to be right here beside you.”

“How do you know that?”

 

“Because he’s already here,” Thorne said. The hard casing of his cast was rough against her cheek, but his touch was impossibly soft. “And he's not going to leave you -- unless he needs to go to the bathroom, but he promises to come right back.”

 

Cress laughed, but it turned into another yawn.

 

“And then we're going to spend the rest of our lives together. I mean, if you want. Anyway.” He exhaled noisily. “The point is, you don't have to be alone again. Ever.”

 

Cress pressed closer to him, and felt a kiss drop into her hair. “I like the sound of that.”

 

“Well, it'll give you something to look forward to after your drug-induced nap.”

 

She shook her head faintly, still smiling. “Captain?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Let me go back to sleep.”

 

He kissed her one last time. “Your wish is my command.”

**Author's Note:**

> (there actually is accidental cuddling at least once in the desert but i elected to ignore that for the purposes of composing this fluffy pile of nonsense pls enjoy)


End file.
